India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Expanding urban
areas, growing population and an increasing dependency on electricity in our
lives is continuously pushing its demand upwards.

While the government's 'Make in India' initiative is giving the right impetus to
the home-grown industry, the 'Digital India' and E-governance is mechanizing
the vast public and private networks and businesses across sectors. Though
this spells better service experience and greater inclusion, it also translates
into higher power consumption and need for the society to operate.

With an installed capacity of approximately 330.80 GW 1 of the National Grid
as on December 2017, India is considered a power surplus nation. It is the
third largest producer and fourth largest consumer of electricity in the world.
And yet approximately 50 million homes in India do not have access to
electricity. 2

To meet Government of India's 'Power for All' vision and the year on year
increasing demand, the current reliance on the traditional fossil fuel based
power generation would spell environmental disaster since the bulk of India's
electricity generation capacity still comes from these non-recyclable
resources.

This dependency is not only eroding the natural resources, raise pollution
levels but making a huge dent in the country's import bill of oil and coal, the
two main sources of electricity generation in India.

In January 2018 the import bill of oil alone was $11.66 billion of which nearly
80% is consumed in power generation. 3

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the government is aggressively targeting
increase of recyclable energy power generation in the country. One of such
key resources that is abundant in India is the Sun. With nearly 300 sunny
days in India solar power is crucial to India's green power generation and a
step towards meeting its Sustainable Development Goals.

By launching the 'National Solar Mission', one of the eight missions that are
part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, the government and
Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi have exhibited their clear intent in
transforming power sector in the country.

Hitachi, has been an active proponent of recyclable power generation around
the world through its original and superior technology of harnessing solar
power.

In India, Hitachi, through its Solar Inverters, highly acclaimed for their high
conversion ratio is partnering National Thermal Power Corporation, one of
India's Maharatna's and the largest power conglomerate in India.

The Solar Inverters are the key link between conversion of photovoltaic DC
current to AC current, in a form that is distributed through the National Grid
and consumed at the end point.

Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt. Ltd. at Sanand near Ahmedabad,
Gujarat, has delivered more than 2GW of Solar Inverters in 2017 and is
committed to deliver 8GW by March 2020 and further scaling up to help the
nation achieve its target of 100 GW by 2022.

This much needed transformation will not only contribute towards wider
distribution of good quality, low-polluting electricity, but has the potential to
scale up to a country-wide movement providing dependable Solar Power. And
Hitachi is happy to be a proud contributor to this Solar movement - a step
towards a healthier and happier India.